To save weight, in the manufacture of motor vehicles it is becoming increasingly frequent to produce individual components or entire assemblies using light metal materials. As light metal materials, magnesium or aluminum are most often used.
For example, from DE 10 2005 032 888 A1 a wheel carrier is known, which is entirely made from the light metal aluminum. A substantial problem, however, relates to the connection of the wheel bearing to the wheel carrier made from a light metal, because the different materials of the wheel carrier and the wheel bearing have different thermal expansion coefficients and also different strengths. In an extreme case this can result in loosening of the wheel bearing in the wheel carrier, with axial drift or movement in the circumferential direction, at the very least with the consequence of disturbing noises in the wheel suspension area. To prevent this, from DE 10 2005 032 888 A1 it is known to provide securing rings which fix the wheel bearing in the wheel carrier. This solution involves the step of providing at least one securing ring which is set into the outer ring of the wheel bearing by friction force and/or positive interlock, so that friction force locking also exists between the surrounding component, i.e. the wheel carrier, and the securing ring. Furthermore the securing ring can have a conical contour or one that rises or is domed relative to the rotation axis, in order, by virtue of the wedge action between the wheel bearing and the wheel carrier, to avoid any relative movement of the wheel bearing.
In the system known from DE 10 2005 032 888 A1 the fitting of the wheel bearing into the wheel carrier is made more difficult by the fact that each securing ring first has to be set into the outer ring of the wheel bearing, before the wheel bearing can be integrated into the wheel carrier. In practice this problem can hardly be solved without heat treating the structural elements. As a result, the production of the structural elements and their assembly entail considerable effort and cost.
Wheel carriers in a form consisting of cast and then additionally forged aluminum, in which an intermediate steel ring is interposed between the outer ring of the wheel bearing and the inside surface of the recess, are already used in vehicles. However, the casting and subsequent forging of the wheel carrier and the insertion of the intermediate steel ring prove to be very expensive.